December 1, 1953: Playboy Magazine Debuts

December 1, 1953: The 1st issue of Playboy magazine hits newsstands. It sells over 50,000 copies.

It was founded by Hugh Hefner, a 27-year-old writer who was fired by Esquire magazine 2 years earlier, because he demanded a raise of $5 a week. In other words, for what would have amounted to an extra $56 a week in 2022 money, Esquire could have kept a man who, while not a literary genius, turned out to be an organizational one.

Esquire was already America's premiere "men's magazine," and it had pictures of scantily clad women. Hefner upped the ante, with centerfold photos of nude women. He bought some nude photos that Marilyn Monroe had posed for in 1949, right before becoming famous, included them, and included a photo of a dressed Marilyn on his 1st cover. There was nothing she could legally do. "Hef" and Marilyn never met, but he was obsessed with her until the end, eventually buying the crypt next to hers at Westwood Village Memorial Park in Los Angeles.

Hef believed that people should be liberated, every which way. He supported "the sexual revolution," and some people suggest he even started it. He supported gay rights. He supported civil rights for black people. He supported animal rescue. He was not, however, a supporter of feminism. And the way he treated the women he hired left a lot to be desired.

Among the women who accepted the big money that Hef was willing to spend for them to pose nude have been:

* Actresses: Jayne Mansfield in 1955, Ursula Andress in 1965, Linda Evans in 1971, Suzanne Somers in 1980 and 1984, Kim Basinger in 1983, Shannen Doherty in 1994 and 2003, Drew Barrymore in 1995, Farrah Fawcett in 1995 and 1997 (at ages 48 and 50), and Denise Richards in 2004.

* Singers: La Toya Jackson in 1989 and 1991, Nancy Sinatra in 1995 (at 55!), Joey Heatherton in 1997 (at 53, not quite topping Nancy), Belinda Carlisle of The Go-Go's in 2001 (at 43), Tiffany in 2002, Carnie Wilson of Wilson Phillips in 2003 (showing off her big, though temporary, weight loss), and Debbie Gibson in 2005.

* Athletes: Figure skater Katarina Witt in 1998, volleyball player Gabrielle Reece in 2001, and swimmer Amanda Beard in 2007.

The old joke was, "I only read it for the articles." Top 5 articles that Playboy was worth reading for:

1. Alex Haley's 1962 interview with jazz trumpeter Miles Davis. Davis' choices of words have been retroactively labeled "cringeworthy," but his views about race and American culture are still worth reading.

2. Haley's 1963 interview with Malcolm X, adapted after Malcolm's assassination into the book The Autobiography of Malcolm X.

3. Haley's 1965 interview with Dr. Martin Luther King. By this point, Malcolm X had been assassinated, and Dr. King had faced attempts on his own life. Presaging his last speech in 1968, just 1 night before his assassination, he said here, "If I were constantly worried about death, I couldn't function." As far as I know, Haley, later to be the author of Roots: The Saga of an American Family, is the only man to interview both Malcolm and Martin.

4. The interview by Robert Scheer, previously best known for the "New Left" magazine Ramparts, with Presidential candidate Jimmy Carter, late in the 1976 campaign, in which Carter spoke of "lust in my heart," nearly costing him the election.

5. David Sheff's interview with former Beatle John Lennon, mere days before Lennon's 1980 assassination. This interview would also be published in book form.

The magazine also had a long history of publishing short stories by notable novelists such as Ian Fleming (no surprise there), Vladimir Nabokov (ditto), Arthur C. Clarke, Saul Bellow, Chuck Palahniuk, P. G. Wodehouse, Haruki Murakami, and even the author of The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood.

Believe it or not, from 1970 to 2020, a Braille edition of Playboy was published, including all the written words in the regular version, but no pictorial representations.

In the 1959-60 and 1960-61 television seasons, Playboy's Penthouse was nationally syndicated, taped at the studio of Chicago station WBKB (now WLS), Channel 7. The show portrayed a "typical" party at Hefner's place, complete with Playboy Playmates and celebrities, who then chatted with Hefner and performed for the party. In the 1969-70 season, moving from Chicago and black & white to Los Angeles and color, Hef hosted a similar series, Playboy After Dark, also syndicated. Syndication offered him the chance to broadcast with fewer censors, since networks weren't involved; but while he showed women in skimpy outfits, even he wouldn't go so far as to show nudity on television in the 1960s.

In 1975, Hefner moved the company's operations from Chicago to Los Angeles, establishing the Playboy Mansion at 10236 Charing Cross Road, in the Holmby Hills section of West L.A. His hedonism reached a new level: Although his previous appearances on television showed him wearing a tuxedo, he now seemed to wear only pajamas and a red bathrobe, even conducting business dressed that way in the Mansion.

In 2006, an ex-girlfriend of Hef's published a book stating that the Mansion, and the furnishings inside, were in bad shape. As it turned out, the finances of the once fabulously wealthy Hef were also in bad shape. He had become a real-life version of Citizen Kane's Charles Foster Kane, a once-great publisher having taken his pleasures too far, now alone in a decaying mansion, a caricature of himself, outliving his legend and his fortune.

Hugh Hefner died on September 27, 2017, at the age of 91. The next day, I wrote on Facebook, "Say what you want about Hugh Hefner, and I wouldn't recommend his lifestyle to anybody. But he wanted everybody -- regardless of gender, race, religion, orientation or identity -- to have the same freedoms that he enjoyed. His obituary is definitely an article worth reading Playboy for."

He married 3 times, and had 4 children. His company is now publicly owned, and no member of his family has any control over it. The magazine went online-only in 2020. The Mansion is privately owned, and the City of Los Angeles has declared it a landmark.

UPDATE: In 2024, Hef's youngest child, son Cooper Hefner, a hedge fund manager who was decorated as a U.S. Air Force officer, bought Playboy Enterprises for $100 million, and relaunched the print edition in 2025. He is married to Scarlett Byrne, an actress who appeared in the Harry Potter films.

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December 1, 1953 was a Tuesday. Baseball was out of season. Football was in midweek. No NHL games were scheduled. There were 3 games in the NBA:

* The Boston Celtics beat the Philadelphia Warriors, 89-86 in overtime at the Boston Garden.

* The Rochester Royals beat the Fort Wayne Pistons, 92-69 at the Edgerton Park Arena in Rochester, New York.

* And the Syracuse Nationals beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 76-69 in overtime, at the Milwaukee Arena. In 1974, it was renamed the Milwaukee Exposition, Convention Center and Arena, or "The MECCA." Since 2014, it has been named the UW-Panther Arena.

October 13, 1950: "All About Eve" Premieres

Left to right: Anne Baxter, Bette Davis,

Marilyn Monroe and George Sanders

October 13, 1950: All About Eve premieres, based on the 1946 short story "The Wisdom of Eve" by Mary Orr. Bette Davis plays Margo Channing, an aging Broadway star. Anne Baxter plays Eve Harrington, a fan who works her way into Margo's friendship, then into stardom of her own. George Sanders, Celeste Holm, Thelma Ritter, Gary Merrill and Hugh Marlowe also star, and it includes one of the earliest big roles for Marilyn Monroe.

The film was nominated for 14 Academy Awards, a record at the time, and won 6, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Screenplay for Joseph L. Mankiewicz, and Best Supporting Actor for Sanders. Davis and Baxter were both nominated for Best Actress, and Holm and Ritter were both nominated for Best Supporting Actress. All About Eve remains the only film with 4 actresses nominated for Oscars.

Monroe died in 1962, Ritter in 1969, Sanders in 1972, Marlowe in 1982, Baxter in 1985, Davis in 1989, Merrill in 1990, Holm in 2012.

I never saw this movie until I was 51 years old. I can understand why lots of people like it. I came away impressed, but not satisfied. But I've seen many a sporting event where I could have delivered Bette Davis' iconic line, "Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy night." This is often incorrectly given as "a bumpy ride."

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October 13, 1950 was a Friday -- a Friday the 13th. The baseball season ended 4 days earlier, with the New York Yankees' sweep of the Philadelphia Phillies in the World Series. The NBA season didn't start for another 18 days. The NHL season had started, but no games were scheduled. There we ere no games played in the NFL, but there were 6 college football games:

* Fordham beat Boston College, 26-6 at Alumni Field, just outside Boston in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts.

* George Washington University beat Virginia Tech, 42-7 at Griffith Stadium in Washington.

* Alabama beat Furman, 34-0 at Denny Stadium (now Bryant-Denny Stadium) in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

* Marquette beat the University of Detroit, 27-13 at University of Detroit Stadium. Marquette dropped its football program after the 1960 season, UD after 1964. In 1990, UD merged with the all-women's Mercy College of Detroit, forming the University of Detroit Mercy. Neither school has ever restarted its football program.

* Illinois beat UCLA, 14-6 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

* And Loyola Marymount beat San Jose State, 14-7 at Spartan Stadium (now CEFCU Stadium) in San Jose.

October 5, 1973: Elton John Releases "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road"

October 5, 1973: Elton John releases the double album Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. It raised him from the level of rising star to superstar.

It includes some of his best songs: The title track, the 11-minute medley "Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding," "Bennie and the Jets," his Marilyn Monroe tribute "Candle in the Wind," and the song he usually used to close his concerts, "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting."

Bernie Taupin wrote the lyrics in 2 1/2 weeks, with Elton composing most of the melodies in 3 days while staying at the Pink Flamingo Hotel in Kingston, Jamaica. Elton had wanted to go there, because The Rolling Stones had recorded their latest album there, Goats Head Soup.

But the timing was bad: They began recording in January 1973, while there were protests over the country's political and economic situation, and the Heavyweight Championship fight between Joe Frazier and George Foreman was held. (Foreman knocked Frazier out in the 2nd round to win the title.) So Elton moved the recording to the Château d'Hérouville outside Paris, where he had previously recorded his albums Honky Château and Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player.

"Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" reached Number 2. "Bennie and the Jets" hit Number 1 in 1974, and its soulful sound led to his becoming one of the few white performers to appear on the American TV show Soul Train.

"Candle in the Wind" was not released as a single until 1987, when Elton released a live version, and it hit the Top 10. In 1997, in memory of Princess Diana of Wales, Bernie wrote new lyrics, and it hit Number 1. Elton has only performed that version live once, at Diana's funeral. Otherwise, he performs the original version. For the record, he was 15 years old when Marilyn Monroe died, so he actually was "just a kid."

UPDATE: It took me until 2024 to think of this, but the 1970s were Schrödinger's Decade. There was too much overwrought music, and, at the same time, not enough of it.

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October 5, 1973 was a Friday. There were no scores on this historic day: Baseball was between the regular season and the Playoffs, football was in midweek, and it was a few days too soon for the NBA, the ABA, the NHL and the WHA to start their seasons.

August 4, 1962: Marilyn Monroe Dies

August 4, 1962: Marilyn Monroe dies at her home in Los Angeles. The actress was only 36 years old.

She was born on June 1, 1926, on the exact same day as another Hollywood legend, Andy Griffith. She was born with the name Norma Jeane Mortenson, in Los Angeles, the result of an affair her married mother had with a co-worker. She had a half-brother that she never met, and a half-sister that she met in 1944, and kept in touch with thereafter.

Norma Jeane's mother was mentally ill, and sent her to live with foster parents, giving the child's name as Norma Jeane Baker, using the surname of her 1st husband. She rarely stayed with one couple for long. But, like so many others, she turned to the movies as escapism. As she later explained:

I didn't like the world around me, because it was kind of grim... Some of my foster families used to send me to the movies to get me out of the house, and there I'd sit all day and way into the night. Up in front, there with the screen so big, a little kid all alone, and I loved it... When I heard that this was acting, I said that's what I want to be. 

In 1942, when she was 16, her current foster father was transferred by his company to West Virginia. California child protection laws prevented her foster parents from taking her out of State, so it was back to the orphanage. Since she was willing to do anything to avoid this, the couple gave their permission for her to marry a neighbor's son, James Dougherty, a 21-year-old factory worker. She dropped out of high school and became a housewife.

World War II was on. Dougherty enlisted in the U.S. Merchant Marine, and Norma Jeane got a job in a munitions plant. David Conover, a photographer sent by the government to get morale-boosting pictures of female factory workers, said she should be a model. He got her a job as one. She straightened her curly auburn hair, dyed it blonde, and changed her name to Jean Norman. Although the more familiar name came later, this was basically when "Marilyn Monroe" was born.

Norma Jeane Dougherty, 1944. Photo by David Conover.

Dougherty was against it, but, by this time, she was 18 and making more money than he was, so she divorced him. Dougherty became a police officer, and developed the LAPD's famed Special Weapons and Tactics team -- the 1st "SWAT" team. He lived until 2005, insisting to the end that, "If Marilyn had stayed married to me, she would still be alive, and be a happy grandma." She would have been 79 in 2005, so it's hardly impossible. But she later described her feelings of living with Dougherty as "dying of boredom."

By June 1946, she had appeared on 33 magazine covers, although most of those magazines have long since gone out of business, and their names would not likely be recognized by most people today. She got a screen test at 20th Century-Fox, and studio head Darryl F. Zanuck was not impressed -- but, like a baseball team general manager trading for a player rather than let a rival get him, he signed her because he'd heard RKO Pictures was also interested.

Another Fox executive, Ben Lyon, suggested a new stage name, because he didn't like "Jean Norman," and they agreed that "Norma Jeane Baker" wasn't going to work. He said she reminded her of Broadway star Marilyn Miller. And "Monroe" was her mother's maiden name. So, "Marilyn Monroe." The alliteration helped.

For a year, she appeared in no films, taking acting, singing and dancing lessons, and observing the filmmaking process. On December 7, 1947 -- the day baseball legend Johnny Bench was born -- the 1st film in which she actually appeared was released, Dangerous Years. She briefly played a waitress named Eve.

Fox sent her to the Actors' Laboratory Theatre. She said, "That was my first taste of what real acting in a real drama could be, and I was hooked." She also started an affair with Fox executive Joseph M. Schenck. He was a friend of Harry Cohn, head of Columbia Pictures. Cohn didn't have many friends: When asked why he didn't name his son after himself, he said he didn't want the son to be known as "Son of a Bitch Junior." She wasn't at Columbia long, but that is where her hair was dyed the eventually-iconic platinum blonde.

She still modeled, and did some nude photos in 1949. Eventually, without her knowledge until it was too late, Hugh Hefner bought them, and used them for the 1st issue of Playboy magazine, dated December 1953, by which time Marilyn was one of the biggest stars in Hollywood. He put a photo of her (wearing a ball gown) on the front cover.

She was onscreen for only a few minutes each in All About Eve and The Asphalt Jungle, both released in 1950, when she was 24, but got raves for those appearances. She made 3 light comedies, and, at the height of the Korean War, won a poll of servicemen by the U.S. armed forces newspaper Stars and Stripes as "Miss Cheesecake of 1951."

She stuck to dramas in 1952, except for Monkey Business, playing Cary Grant's secretary, a stereotypical "dumb blonde." Her romantic relationships came and went quickly: Director Elia Kazan, director Nicholas Ray, actor Yul Brynner, actor Peter Lawford. But, also that year, she began what became her longest relationship yet: She met recently retired baseball star Joe DiMaggio.

Already, what would become her patterns had developed: She showed up late, did not remember her lines, and asked for several re-takes, leading directors to brand her as "difficult to work with." They pushed back, bullying her. Her anxiety grew, her self-esteem was shot, and she had trouble sleeping. This last part proved critical: She began taking sleeping pills.

Her real breakout role came in 1953, opposite Jane Russell in a film version of the 1949 Broadway musical Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Two women with big busts, so the picture was not one. In a pink dress, she sang "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend," which Carol Channing had turned into a hit after singing it in the Broadway production. Marilyn did most of her own singing, but Marni Nixon -- who would later overdub songs by Natalie Wood and Audrey Hepburn, among others -- sang the line, "these rocks don't lose their shape," whose combination of sound and high note Marilyn just couldn't reach.

Later in 1953, she starred with Lauren Bacall and the blonde bombshell of the 1940s, Betty Grable, in How to Marry a Millionaire. She also made her 1st TV appearance, on The Jack Benny Program. Because of contract issues, she couldn't be paid for the appearance. So Benny, whose onscreen character was notoriously cheap, but was very generous in real life, bought her a 1954 Cadillac convertible.

Two beauties of 1954: One blonde, one brunette.

On January 14, 1954, she and DiMaggio got married, each's fame boosting the other. They honeymooned in Japan. While there, Marilyn was contacted by the USO, asking if she could fly over to Korea to entertain the troops that were still stationed there in the aftermath of the Korean War. Joe had no problem with it, so she went. She did 4 days' worth of shows, and, when she returned, she said, "Oh, Joe, you never heard such cheering." Remembering his not-so-long-ago days with the New York Yankees, he wistfully said, "Yes, I have."

After a settling a dispute with Fox, she was signed to star in another film adaptation of a Broadway show, this one not a musical: The Seven Year Itch. For her career, it was a smash. But for her personal life, it was a disaster.

At 1:00 AM on September 15, 1954, a scene was filmed outside the Trans-Lux 52nd Street Theatre, at 586 Lexington Avenue. Director Billy Wilder filmed her standing over a Subway grate, and a passing train caused the skirt of her white dress to billow up. Wilder demanded take after take, which Marilyn didn't mind. But Joe, who was there, did mind, because he thought she was being objectified, and he steamed over the fact that she was all too happy to go along with it. In the final film, the scene is shot from above, and her legs can barely be seen. But on the movie poster, a lot more is shown.

Still, she knew that her fame didn't solve anything. She knew that "Marilyn Monroe" was her greatest role. There exists at least one baseball that bears the autographs of both of them, signed, "Joe DiMaggio" and, "Norma Jeane DiMaggio." But Joe always called her "Marilyn."

Joe was old-fashioned. He wanted her to stay home and be a good little Italian wife. She was not Italian, and refused to conform to his demands. They argued a lot. Supposedly, he even hit her. She had enough, and divorced him on October 4, 1954.

Joe did try to win her back, to no avail. In November, while at a Los Angeles bar with Frank Sinatra, he was tipped off that she was shacking up with a studio executive in Hollywood. The 2 most famous Italian-Americans of all time went to what they thought was the right address, and pounded on the door. They had the house next door, and the woman living there didn't care who they were: She called the police.

It became known as "The Wrong Door Raid," and it strained the relationship between the Yankee Clipper and the Chairman of the Board. The relationship was completely broken when Joe later found out that Frank was making serious moves on Marilyn -- although this was, apparently, one legendary couple that never closed the deal -- and they remained bitter enemies for the rest of their lives.

Marilyn may not have fooled around with Sinatra. Or with Elvis Presley, whom she met on a movie set in 1960, talked with for 3 minutes, and that was it. (It wouldn't have worked: She was 34 and preferred older men, and he was 25 and preferred younger women.) But she did briefly date Marlon Brando, before meeting Arthur Miller, the playwright who'd written Death of a Salesman and The Crucible. They were married on June 29, 1956, and she converted to Judaism for the marriage, just as Elizabeth Taylor later would when she married singer Eddie Fisher.

Just as every studio wanted their own Brando and, eventually, their own Elvis, Marilyn had become so big of a star that every studio wanted their own Marilyn. Jayne Mansfield came the closest. Mamie Van Doren didn't come all that close. Sheree North only matched Marilyn in feuding with the studios.

Marilyn had endometriosis. This prevented her from having children. From 1956 to 1958, a miscarriage was followed by an ectopic pregnancy, followed by another miscarriage. She was 4 months pregnant during the filming of Some Like It Hot, which made her so curvy and bouncy that co-star Jack Lemmon described as "like Jell-O on springs!" (I seriously doubt that this line was in the script: The movie took place in 1929, and it took a few more years for Jell-O to catch on as a popular dessert.) In spite of multiple tensions with the film -- Tony Curtis said she had bad breath, making kissing difficult -- it was a big success, and Sugar Kane remains her best-known role. But she lost the baby.

In 1960, in order to fulfill her contract with Fox, she agreed to film Let's Make Love with French actor Yves Montand. Apparently, they took the title literally, and had an affair. Marilyn became pregnant again, and, since this was kept quiet during her lifetime -- photos of her, clearly showing, were only released decades later -- no one is sure if Miller or Montand was the father. She seemed not to care, as she was thrilled at the idea of becoming a mother. Again, she made it to 4 months, but it was not to be.

July 1960

Truman Capote wanted her to play Holly Golightly in the film version of his novel Breakfast at Tiffany's, but Paramount Pictures wanted Audrey Hepburn, and got her. Instead, her next film was The Misfits, starring alongside Clark Gable, Eli Wallach and Montgomery Clift. Miller wrote the screenplay to give her a juicy dramatic role, but she didn't like the way her character was written. Her drug use was getting worse, and their marriage was doomed. This would be Gable's last role: He died of a heart attack mere days after filming, at age 59.

It was to be Marilyn's last completed role as well. She soon had her gallbladder removed, and was hospitalized for depression. She insisted that she was well, but no one would get her out. Finally, word of her virtual imprisonment got to DiMaggio, and he came and got her out. They started dating again, and she even accompanied him to the Yankees' 1962 Spring Training camp in St. Petersburg, Florida. Rumors of a remarriage made the rounds.

On May 19, 1962, Marilyn appeared at Madison Square Garden for a Democratic Party fundraiser, and sang "Happy Birthday" to President John F. Kennedy -- though his actual birthday was 10 days later. After the show, a photograph was taken with the two of them and JFK's brother, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy. Rumors of her having an affair with JFK have circulated ever since. Rumors of her also having an affair with RFK are ridiculous, and are usually only spread by people with an axe to grind against the Kennedys.

"My eyes are up here, Jack."

She made this trip to New York during a break from filming Something's Got to Give, but she got sick. The studio dropped hints to the media that she was faking it. The film was running behind, and Fox was already having similar problems with Cleopatra. While Marilyn and that film's star, Elizabeth Taylor, didn't know each other well, Liz sent Marilyn a letter of support, and Marilyn sent Liz a very grateful return letter. But on June 7, Fox fired Marilyn from the film, and it was finally released in 1964 as Move Over, Darling, with Doris Day.

Berniece Baker Miracle, Marilyn's half-sister, had spoken to her on the phone on August 4, 1962, and said that Marilyn had been telling her of her plans for the future. Berniece died in 2014, at age 94, still believing that Marilyn's death was not a suicide.

But at 3:00 the next morning, Marilyn's housekeeper, Eunice Murray, woke up and sensed something was wrong. She found Marilyn's bedroom door locked, but the light on inside. She called Marilyn's psychiatrist, Ralph Greenson, and he broke through a bedroom window and climbed in. He determined that Marilyn was dead.

Popular songs written about historical events often get details wrong. But Elton John, 15 years old and "just a kid" at the time, was right: The New York Mirror, a tabloid my grandmother once told me was "garbage," put the words, "Found nude in bed" on its front page.

According to the autopsy performed by Dr. Thomas Noguchi, later to be known as "the coroner to the stars," Marilyn died between 8:30 and 10:30 PM, of an overdose of chloral hydrate and pentobarbital, both barbiturates, "downers." Given that there was no sign of foul play, he ruled it an intentional suicide.

Others, including her sister, have had their doubts. Some conservatives wanted to blame the Kennedys for "putting a hit on her" for threatening to reveal details of her affair with the President, but the evidence for this is laughable. DiMaggio believed it, though, and hated the Kennedys for the rest of his life.

Joe and Berniece organized the funeral, and kept the Hollywood people away, especially Sinatra. For 20 years, Joe left flowers at her gravesite 3 times a week, but stopped when he found out they were being stolen as souvenirs. And he was incredibly touchy about the subject: He wouldn't sign any photograph in which Marilyn was included.

Having previously been married to another blonde actress, Dorothy Arnold, it seems he had a type: After Marilyn, he dated Lee Meriwether, Marlene Dietrich, Gloria DeHaven and Morgan Fairchild. But he never remarried, and, according to his lawyer, Morris Engelberg, his last words as he died in 1999 were, "I'll finally get to see Marilyn."

Marilyn was buried at Pierce Brothers Westwood Village Memorial Park, in West L.A.. Others buried there include, but are by no means limited to:

* Actors: Her co-stars Jack Lemmon and Dean Martin; Eddie Albert, John Cassavetes, James Coburn, Bob Crane, Kirk Douglas, Peter Falk, Farrah Fawcett, Jack Klugman, Burt Lancaster, Janet Leigh, Karl Malden, Walter Matthau, Carroll O'Connor, Donna Reed, Wayne Rogers, Goerge C. Scott, Robert Stack, Natalie Wood, actor-game show figure Richard Dawson, and Marilyn's fellow 1950s pinup model Bettie Page. Also, her former bosses Billy Wilder and Darryl F. Zanuck.

* Comedians: Fanny Brice, Tim Conway and Rodney Dangerfield. Given the company, it looks like Rodney got some respect.

* Musical figures: Les Brown, Sammy Cahn, Ray Conniff, Alexander Courage, Peggy Lee, Roy Orbison, Buddy Rich, Minnie Riperton, Mel Tormé, Margaret Whiting, Beach Boys guitarist Carl Wilson, and Frank Zappa. (UPDATE: Carl's brother, Brian Wilson, died in 2025, and was also buried there. So was their mother, Audree. Brother Dennis, the drummer, was buried at sea.)

* Writers: Ray Bradbury, Truman Capote, Jackie Collins and Sidney Sheldon.

Marilyn Monroe remains one of the biggest American icons, loved by generations who never saw her alive, giving her a fame that far outstrips her noticeable talent as an actress. Billy Joel mentioned her in his 1989 song "We Didn't Start the Fire," rhyming her name with that of Joe DiMaggio. So did Madonna, the following year, in her song "Vogue." Both songs hit Number 1. Madonna had previously copied Marilyn's performance of "Diamond's Are a Girl's Best Friend" for her video for "Material Girl."

On a 1982 episode of M*A*S*H, set in 1953, Hawkeye starts a rumor that Marilyn is going to entertain the camp, but the rumor snowballs, and he has to find a way out of it. On a 1988 episode of Full House, Uncle Jesse impersonates Elvis at a club where a Marilyn impersonator also performs. On a 2006 episode of NCIS, Abby dressed as Marilyn for Halloween. More recently, on 2 episodes of the superhero show DC's Legends of Tomorrow, Charlie impersonates Marilyn, despite Charlie's portrayer, Maisie Richardson-Sellers, being black.

The 1985 film Insignificance, the four main characters are "The Actress" (Theresa Russell, filming the subway grate scene), "The Ballplayer" (Gary Busey), "The Senator" (based on Joseph McCarthy, played by Marilyn's Some Like It Hot co-star Tony Curtis), and "The Professor" (based on Albert Einstein, played by Michael Emil).

Aside from the sewer-grate scene, the film is completely fictional: There is no evidence that Marilyn, Joe or McCarthy ever met Einstein; none that Marilyn or Joe ever met McCarthy, although one of Joe's former managers on the Yankees was also named Joseph McCarthy; and none that McCarthy and Einstein ever met. Einstein died less than a year after the events of the film; McCarthy, 2 years after that. By the end of Summer 1962, DiMaggio was the only survivor.

Marilyn was played by Michelle Williams in My Week with Marilyn. In 1996, the dichotomy between her private and public selves was shown in Norma Jean & Marilyn, with Ashley Judd playing the former and Mira Sorvino the latter. On September 28, 2022, Netflix will release Blonde, an NC-17-rated film, based on the book by Joyce Carol Oates, starring Cuban actress Ana de Armas (definitely not a natural blonde, but then, neither was Marilyn).

Most notably, there is "Candle in the Wind," a 1973 song about Marilyn and her legacy. In words written by Bernie Taupin, Elton sang, "Your candle burned out long before your legend ever did." This is true: Marilyn has never left us.

In a 2012 episode of the YouTube series Epic Rap Battles of History, Kimmy Gatewood played Marilyn Monroe, against Angela Trimbur playing Cleopatra, the last Pharoah of Egypt.

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August 4, 1962 was a Friday. Baseball legend Roger Clemens and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot were born.

These baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Chicago White Sox, 2-1 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Mickey Mantle was injured and did not play. Yogi Berra also did not play. Roger Maris went 1-for-4. Frank Baumann outpitched Bill Stafford.

* The New York Mets swept a doubleheader from the defending National League Champion, the Cincinnati Reds, at the Polo Grounds, 9-1 and 3-2. This was probably the highlight of the season for the bedraggled expansion team.

In the opener, Charlie Neal, Marvelous Marv Throneberry and Clarence "Choo-Choo" Coleman hit home runs, to support Roger Craig. Frank Thomas (not the later White Sox slugger) won the game with a home run in the bottom of the 14th inning, off Moe Drabowsky, to make a winning pitcher out of Bob L. Miller. Frank Robinson went 1-for-2 in the 1st game, and only appeared as a pinch-runner in the 2nd game.

* The Washington Senators beat the Boston Red Sox, 5-3 at Fenway Park in Boston. Johnny Schaive hit 2 home runs. Carl Yastrzemski went 0-for-4.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Los Angeles Angels, 3-1 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Brooks Robinson went 1-for-3.

* The Kansas City Athletics beat the Cleveland Indians, 8-3 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Detroit Tigers, 4-3 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Harmon Killebrew hit a 2-run homer. Al Kaline went 0-for-3 with 2 walks.

* The Milwaukee Braves swept a doubleheader from the Philadelphia Phillies at Milwaukee County Stadium, 6-2 and 7-3. Hank Aaron went 2-for-8 with an RBI, and his brother Tommie Aaron homered in the 2nd game.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Houston Colt .45s, 2-0 at Busch Stadium (formerly Sportsman's Park) in St. Louis. Ray Washburn pitched a 4-hit shutout. Stan Musial did not play.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Chicago Cubs, 5-3 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Maury Wills stole 2 bases. Ernie Banks went 1-for-5.

* And the San Francisco Giants beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 6-5 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Willie Mays went 2-for-3 with a walk and an RBI. Roberto Clemente only appeared as a pinch-runner.

May 19, 1962: Marilyn Monroe Sings "Happy Birthday" to JFK

May 19, 1962: The Democratic Party holds a fundraiser at the old Madison Square Garden in New York City. 

Marilyn Monroe appeared, in a very glittery, very tight, low-cut gown, designed by noted costume designer Bob Mackie, and sang "Happy Birthday" to President John F. Kennedy -- though his actual birthday was 10 days later. (He was turning 45.)

The President then took the stage, saying, "I can now retire from politics after having had 'Happy Birthday' sung to me in such a sweet, wholesome way." That got a big laugh.

During his speech, Kennedy addresses the need for Medicare, the name for the plan to reduce health care costs for retired Americans. It does little good: Medicare doesn't pass Congress until 1965, and is signed into law by his successor as President, Lyndon Johnson.

After the show, a photograph was taken with the two of them and JFK's brother, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy. Rumors of her having an affair with JFK have circulated ever since. Rumors of her also having an affair with RFK are ridiculous, and are usually only spread by people with an axe to grind against the Kennedys.

"My eyes are up here, Jack."

She made this trip to New York during a break from filming Something's Got to Give, but she got sick. The studio dropped hints to the media that she was faking it. The film was running behind, and Fox was already having similar problems with Cleopatra. While Marilyn and that film's star, Elizabeth Taylor, didn't know each other well, Liz sent Marilyn a letter of support, and Marilyn sent Liz a very grateful return letter.

But on June 7, Fox fired Marilyn from the film, and it was finally released in 1964 as Move Over, Darling, with Doris Day. Marilyn died on August 4, from an overdose of barbiturates, only 36 years old.

*

May 19, 1962 was a Saturday. These baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the Minnesota Twins, 2-1 at Yankee Stadium. Ralph Terry went the distance for the win. Mickey Mantle was injured, and did not play. Yogi Berra went 1-for-4. Roger Maris went 0-for-4. The Twins' only run came on a solo home run by Harmon Killebrew.

* The New York Mets beat the Milwaukee Braves, 6-5 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Frank Thomas (the Big Donkey, not the later Big Hurt) hit a home run for the Mets. Hank Aaron went 2-for-4.

* The Los Angeles Angels beat the Boston Red Sox, 6-5 at Fenway Park in Boston. Buck Rodgers singled home the winning run in the top of the 10th inning. Carl Yastrzemski went 1-for-4.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Chicago Cubs, 7-5 at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia. Ernie Banks went 1-for-5.

* The Kansas City Athletics beat the Washington Senators, 8-4 at District of Columbia Stadium (later Robert F. Kennedy Stadium) in Washington.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Cleveland Indians, 9-3 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Al Kaline went 0-for-3 with a walk.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Chicago White Sox, 11-6 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Brooks Robinson went 3-for-4 with a walk.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 8-1 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Ray Sadecki outpitched Don Drysdale. Stan Musial went 1-for-5.

* And the San Francisco Giants beat the Houston Astros, 10-2 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Willie Mays, Orlando Cepeda and Ed Bailey hit home runs.

March 29, 1959: "Some Like It Hot" Premieres

Left to right: Tony Curtis, Marilyn Monroe, Jack Lemmon

March 29, 1959: Some Like It Hot premieres. It features 3 all-time legends at their peak -- 4, if you count director Billy Wilder.

The film begins in Chicago in 1929, with a pair of jazz musicians: Tony Curtis plays Joe, a saxophone player and an irresponsible ladies' man; and Jack Lemmon plays Jerry, a nervous double bass player. Prohibition is in progress, and Chicago is ground zero for gangland defiance of it. Joe and Jerry work in a speakeasy run by "Spats" Colombo, played by George Raft.

The speakeasy gets raided by the police. Spats finds out a rival gang's leader ratted him out, and so he has the gang gunned down, a reflection of the real-life St. Valentine's Day Massacre. Joe and Jerry see it, and know that Spats know the saw it. They have to get out of Chicago immediately: The weather is cold, but the heat is on them.

They disguise themselves as women named Josephine and Daphne, and join Sweet Sue and her Society Syncopators, an all-female band on a train to a gig in nice warm Miami. On board, they meet the band's singer, Sugar Kowalczyk, a.k.a. Sugar Kane, played by Marilyn Monroe. Among the other "girls" in the band is a fiddler played by future Star Trek actress Grace Lee Whitney.

Sugar confides in the new "girls," saying that saxophone players have taken advantage of her in the past, and she wants to meet "a gentle, bespectacled millionaire" in Miami. So, upon arrival, while they perform -- Joe and Jerry in drag -- Joe takes on a 2nd disguise: "Junior," an heir to Shell Oil. Sugar likes him.

Curtis was then married to another blonde bombshell, Janet Leigh. Their daughter, actress Jamie Lee Curtis, was born between the end of filming and the release of the film. Curtis would later make the shocking claim that he didn't like kissing Monroe, the most popular sex symbol of the era.

An actual millionaire, the much-married, aging, mama's-boy Osgood Fielding III, played by Joe E. Brown, pursues "Daphne." Joe convinces Jerry to keep Osgood occupied onshore so that "Junior" can take Sugar to Osgood's yacht, and pass it off as his own. Once on the yacht, to "reel her in," Joe/Junior claims impotence, and that he would marry a woman who could cure him. She "cures him."

While this is going on, Osgood and Jerry/Daphne dance the tango all night. Back at the hotel, Jerry tells Joe, "I'm getting married!" Joe says, "Congratulations. Who's the lucky girl?" Jerry says, "I am!" Joe snaps him out of it, reminding him that he's "a boy."

But at least they're safe, right? Wrong: There's a Mob sit-down in Miami, and Spats is going to be there. They have to flee, and Joe, as Junior, calls Sugar on the phone, and tells her that he has to break up with her and marry a woman of his family's choosing, breaking her heart.

Joe and Jerry hide under a table at the banquet, and see Johnny Paradise, a young hitman played by Edward G. Robinson Jr., son of another actor well-known for playing gangsters, shoot and kill Spats. (There's an inside joke: Johnny is constantly flipping a coin, which was a gesture that Raft had made famous in gangster movies a quarter of a century earlier, possibly also inspiring the Batman villain Two-Face.) Now, they're in the clear of Spats, but not his enemies.

They put on their drag disguises. Joe sees Sugar onstage, singing a lament to lost love. He runs onto the platform and kisses her, causing Sugar to realize that Josephine and Junior are the same person. Jerry persuades Osgood to take "Daphne" and "Josephine" away on his yacht. Sugar runs from the stage at the end of her performance, and jumps aboard Osgood's launch just as it is leaving the dock with Joe, Jerry, and Osgood.

Joe tells Sugar the whole truth, and tells her that she deserves better, but Sugar wants him anyway, realizing he is the first man to genuinely care for her. Meanwhile, Jerry tries to get out of his promise to marry Osgood, by listing reasons why "Daphne" and Osgood cannot marry, including, "I've been living in sin with a saxophone player!" Osgood says, "I forgive you." Daphne says, "I can never have children!" Osgood says, "We can adopt some." Finally, Jerry rips off his wig, and says, "I'm a man!" And Osgood says, "Nobody's perfect."

The film ends there, but leaves it ambiguous as to how Joe and Jerry can stay out of the Mob's crosshairs. There would be no Federal Witness Protection Program until 1970. The easiest presumption is that Osgood could have used his wealth and connections to get them new identities -- identities which did not require them to pose as women.

So here, we have a film with gang violence, premarital sex, impotence, cross-dressing, a potential same-sex marriage, and a man questioning his gender identity -- all this, in a film released in 1959. The Ike Age. The Frigid Fifties, rather than the Fabulous side of the decade. The Hays Code, the puritanical guide that had ruled Hollywood with an iron fist since 1934, refused to approve the film. Ordinarily, this would have been a death blow: People would have been afraid to go see it, lest they be branded as "immoral."

Billy Wilder didn't care. He had already directed Ninotchka, Double Indemnity, The Lost Weekend, Sunset Boulevard, Stalag 17, Sabrina, The Seven Year Itch (with Monroe), Love in the Afternoon, and Witness for the Prosecution. Some of these films had already tried the censors' patience. Along with his next film, The Apartment, Wilder proved that he didn't need the Hays Code's approval, and that people would watch his movies, anyway. It took until 1968, and a few more challenges, for the Code to finally fall.

Some Like It Hot was nominated for 6 Academy Awards, but won only one, for Best Costume Design, Black-and-White -- possibly Wilder's comeuppance for his defiance.

In 1972, the film was adapted into the Broadway musical Sugar, with Elaine Joyce in the title role, and Robert Morse and Tony Roberts as Joe and Jerry. It was re-adapted with an all-black cast under the Some Like It Hot name in 2022, and won 4 Tony Awards, including J. Harrison Ghee, who, as Jerry and Daphne, became, along with Alex Newell for Shucked at the same ceremony, the 1st nonbinary actor to win a Tony Award. (Since both were playing born-male roles, they had been put in the "Best Actor" category, rather than "Best Actress.")

At the time of filming, Marilyn Monroe was married to playwright Arthur Miller, and 4 months pregnant, making her curvier than ever. (I still wonder if Lemmon's line, "It's like Jell-O on springs!" was an ad-lib.) But she lost the baby, and she and Miller soon split up. She died in 1962. Edward G. Robinson Jr., a.k.a. Manny Robinson, also died young, at 40, of a heart attack in 1974. He had outlived his legendary father by only a year.

Joe E. Brown died in 1973, George Raft in 1980, Jack Lemmon in 2001, Billy Wilder in 2002, and Tony Curtis in 2006.

UPDATE: On April 5, 2022, 7 days after posting, the film's last surviving castmember died: Nehemiah Persoff, who played Mob leader "Little Napoleon" in the Miami banquet scene. He was 102 years old.

*

March 29, 1959 was a Sunday. Hockey star Brad McCrimmon was born. His sport was into its Stanley Cup Playoffs, but no games were played on this day. Baseball was in Spring Training. Football was out of season.

There were 2 games played in the NBA. The Syracuse Nationals beat the Boston Celtics, 133-121 at the Onondaga County War Memorial (now the Upstate University Medical Arena) in Syracuse, New York. Dolph Schayes scored 39 points. And the Minneapolis Lakers beat the St. Louis Hawks, 106-104 at the St. Paul Auditorium in St. Paul, Minnesota. Rookie Elgin Baylor scored 33 points.

January 14, 1954: Joe DiMaggio Marries Marilyn Monroe

January 14, 1954: Joe DiMaggio marries Marilyn Monroe at City Hall in Joe's hometown of San Francisco.

Joe, the biggest baseball star of his generation, was 39 years old. Marilyn, one of the biggest actresses of the time, but not yet the biggest, was 27. Each became a much bigger public figure by marrying the other.

Each had been married once before. In 1937, after his great rookie season for the Yankees, DiMaggio was in demand, and was cast in the film Manhattan Merry-Go-Round. It was the only film in which he ever appeared. Also in it was a blonde actress named Dorothy Arnold. (I suppose you could say that Joe had a type.)

They got married in a Catholic ceremony in San Francisco in 1939, and their son Joe Jr. was born in 1941. The marriage began to fail during World War II, and when she left him, Joe enlisted in the U.S. Army. He was assigned to the Army Air Forces (the Air Force was not separated from the Army until 1947), and was still in the service in 1944 when the divorce was finalized.

Marilyn was born Norma Jeane Mortensen, in Los Angeles, but her family situation was every bit as messed-up as Joe's was stable. She grew up using her mother's maiden name for her last name, calling herself Norma Jeane Baker. At age 16, the family situation got worse, and she was threatened with being sent back to an orphanage. Rather than accept that, she married a 21-year-old neighbor, James Dougherty.

The Doughertys were not happy. Right after World War II ended, Marilyn got a modeling job offer, but was told they didn't accept married women. So she left him, and they were divorced in 1946. Jim Dougherty became a Los Angeles police officer, and later taught criminal justice at a college in Maine. He died in 2005, insisting to the end that if Marilyn had turned down the job offer and stayed married to him, she would have been happy.

She signed with Columbia Pictures, took her alliterative stage name, and, like the Mexican-American Margarita Cansino, a.k.a. Rita Hayworth, had her ordinary-blonde hair dyed platinum blonde. Her contract at Columbia was brief, and she moved on to 20th Century Fox. Her small roles in All About Eve and The Asphalt Jungle led to bigger roles, including Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, pairing her up with a brunette with, to put it politely, a similar figure: Jane Russell. Jane had also married a sports legend, Los Angeles Rams quarterback Bob Waterfield. That marriage lasted from 1943 to 1968.

At first, Marilyn didn't want to meet Joe, thinking he would be just another arrogant athlete. But something clicked, and, since Joe was still recognized as married by the Roman Catholic Church, they had a civil ceremony at San Francisco's City Hall. 

They honeymooned in Japan. While there, the USO asked Marilyn to make the short flight over to Korea, where, although the Korean War was over, there were still a lot of servicemen stationed. She went, and sang and posed for them. Upon returning to Tokyo, she told her husband, "Oh, Joe, you never heard such cheering!" Missing it, he sadly said, "Yes, I have."

They were a mismatch. He was 39 years old, she was 27. She wanted to keep her star rising. He wanted her to stay at home and be a good little Italian housewife. (She was of Scandinavian descent.) The only thing they seemed to agree on was that they both wanted children. But Marilyn had endometriosis, and she couldn't carry a pregnancy to term.

On September 14, 1954, Marilyn stood in front of the Trans-Lux 52nd Street Theater (since demolished), and filmed a scene for the film The Seven Year Itch, in which she stood over a grate for the Lexington Avenue Subway, and a passing train billowed up her white dress. Director Billy Wilder, a known "dirty old man," filmed take after take, even though she got it right every time. Although what appeared on film turned out to be rather tame, especially by today's standards, the film poster was more revealing.

Joe was furious at this. But, rather than take his frustrations out on Wilder, he took them out on Marilyn. He took her into the lobby of the theater, and there was a shouting match. Depending on whose version of the story you believe, he may even have hit her. It has long been believed that he was physically abusive to her in private.

The month after the theater shoot, upon returning to Los Angeles, Marilyn filed for divorce. The pianist and comedian Oscar Levant commented, "It proves that no man can succeed in two national pastimes."

The following year, she began an affair with Arthur Miller, the playwright who wrote Death of a Salesman. They married in a Jewish ceremony in 1959, and Marilyn was 4 months pregnant when she filmed Some Like It Hot, also directed by Wilder, making her curvier and bouncier than ever: As Jack Lemmon said, in character, "Will you look at that! It's like Jell-O on springs!" But she lost the baby, and her marriage to Miller disintegrated.

They divorced in early 1961, and Marilyn was committed to a psychiatric clinic. Upon hearing this, Joe stepped back into her life, and got her out. They made some public appearances together, and it looked like they might remarry.

But on August 5, 1962, Marilyn was found dead in her Los Angeles house, only 36 years old. The cause was an overdose of barbiturates, though it is still debated as to whether it was intentional.

DiMaggio organized her funeral. He barred several of her friends from attending, including President John F. Kennedy, believing the rumor that Jack and Marilyn had had an affair. He also barred Frank Sinatra, although Marilyn always denied having fooled around with Frank.

Joe and Frank were not just the 2 most famous Americans of Italian descent, ever, but had once been close friends. They even "raided" somebody's house, thinking that the owner was fooling around with Marilyn. They had the wrong house, and nearly got in legal trouble for what became known as "The Wrong Door Raid."

Joe ended their friendship over Marilyn. An attempt to reconcile them at a Los Angeles restaurant in 1995 fell through, and the feud lasted until Sinatra's death in 1998.

For 20 years, Joe left flowers at Marilyn's grave 3 times a week. He stopped when he found out they were being taken as souvenirs. When he attended sports memorabilia shows, the rules for getting Joe's autograph included not mentioning Marilyn or giving him anything to sign with her in it, even if the picture had both of them. At least once, when presented with such a picture, he got up and left without a word.

Despite having been linked with a few women over the years, including Miss Americas Lee Meriwether and Marian McKnight, actress Gloria DeHaven, and, as late as the 1980s, actress Morgan Fairchild, Joe DiMaggio never remarried after his divorce from Marilyn Monroe, or even publicly confirmed that he was dating anyone. 

(Dorothy Arnold was only 3 years younger than Joe, but Marilyn was 11 years younger, Gloria DeHaven 10, Lee Meriwether 20, Marian McKnight 22, and Morgan Fairchild 34. Joe certainly had a type: All were younger, all were actresses, and all but Meriwether were blondes.)

Joe's last words prior to his death on March 8, 1999, according to his attorney, Morris Engelberg, were, "I'll finally get to see Marilyn." Joe's brother Dom, himself a star center fielder, denied this.

Still, both Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe loom large in the American consciousness, partly due to their connection to each other. In 1989, with Joe still alive, Billy Joel wrote "We Didn't Start the Fire," rhyming "DiMaggio" with "Monroe." In 1990, Madonna did the same thing in her song "Vogue." Both songs hit Number 1. Madonna had previously copied Marilyn's performance of "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes for the video for her hit "Material Girl."

*

January 14, 1954 was a Thursday. Baseball and football were out of season. There were 4 games played in the NBA:

* A doubleheader was held at the old Madison Square Garden. The Boston Celtics beat the Milwaukee Hawks, 86-74 at the Boston Garden. Then the New York Knicks beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 83-71.

* The Syracuse Nationals beat the Minneapolis Lakers, 96-71 at the Onondaga County War Memorial Auditorium in Syracuse.

* And the Fort Wayne Pistons beat the Baltimore Bullets, 81-74 -- not in Fort Wayne, Indiana; nor in Baltimore, Maryland; nor in any city near either of those two cities; but at the Dinner Key Auditorium in Miami.

This was the 2nd of 2 "home games" the Bullets played in the Miami area on a roadtrip. The Bullets played a lot of neutral site games, because they weren't drawing well at the Baltimore Coliseum. It didn't work, and, midway through the 1954-55 season, they folded. A new team took up their name in 1963, but moved in 1973, and are now known as the Washington Wizards.

Built in 1951, the Dinner Key Auditorium would become infamous in 1969, after Jim Morrison, lead singer of The Doors, allegedly exposed himself during a concert. It also hosted a few home games for the Miami Floridians of the American Basketball Association. Later known as the Coconut Grove Convention Center, it also served as a TV studio before being demolished in 2013.

There were 2 games played in the NHL. The New York Rangers beat the Chicago Black Hawks, 2-0 at the Chicago Stadium. And the Detroit Red Wings beat the Boston Bruins, 2-1 at the Boston Garden. The Montreal Canadiens and the Toronto Maple Leafs were not scheduled.